Coachella 2014: Bear Hands delights crowd in Mojave tent

As Bear Hands played the first few bars of “Giants” in the Mojave tent early Saturday afternoon at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the crowd erupted into cheers and began waving their hands up and down to the beat. Those who were sitting stood up and crowded around the stage.

“For 1 o’clock in the afternoon, it was really good,” said the band’s bassist Val Loper with a laugh. “We felt really good about it. We’re really happy to be here.”

The New York-based band cites hip hop and punk rock as its primary influences. This is Bear Hands’ first Coachella performance, although band members have attended the festival in 2010.

“It’s exciting! It’s why we tour,” Loper said. “We’re playing among a lot of our peers and people who might actually be into it, so it’s great. We’re playing with a lot of really great bands and meeting a lot of really nice people.”

The band’s name originated from Loper’s love for puns and when he suggested the name as a joke, the band agreed, also jokingly, but ended up adopting the name.

“It’s a really, really long arduous road, but there’s little bright spots along the way that make it all worth it like getting surprised, getting to travel a lot, not being at work every day,” Loper said.

The band hopes to return to Coachella, but in the meantime, this year Bear Hands will be touring the country and promoting its new album “Distraction.”

“We want to give our music to as many people as we can,” said drummer TJ Orscher.